All the typings and observations in this post are based on definitions and information presented in the aLBoP Guided Tour So if any of it bugs you, please go read that before leaving me a grumpy comment… Or, you know what?  Let’s just skip the grumpy comments!  Have a nice day! <3

ENTP
The Swashbuckler

“Never tell me the odds!”
Han Solo, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

The ENTP Swashbuckler does what works.  Adapting their plan, disregarding the rules and following their gut.  They may seem unpredictable because they’ll start fights sometimes, run from them others; be brutally honest one moment and charmingly secretive the next.  This is because they observe first and act later (as all EP’s do) and so they themselves might not know until the moment they decide (after they’ve observed as much information as possible) what they are going to do.  Often, while they figure it out, they’ll be making clever quips and banter.  This is a way to stall for time while they decide what to do, learn more about their opponent and surroundings from the reactions they receive… and enjoy just how clever they are.  And though rules aren’t always their cup of tea, you can be sure they follow their own code, which is usually doing whatever it takes to become the larger-than-life person they *want* to be.

Young ENTP’s start out with an insatiable desire to explore and quickly develop big, flashy dreams about what they’re going to be someday (pretty sure fairy was one of my earliest career goals).  They’re similar to INTJ’s in this way (well… and all the types in different ways), but ENTP’s focus on the way they want to be as a person instead of the things they want to get done.  ENTP’s favorite thing is people-potential so they care a lot more about how awesome they’re going to be and what they choose to do is an after-thought.  But this means since the ENTP loves to explore *all* the options and whatever works, they quickly feel and are often branded “bad” by the world and the people around them.  Often to this an ENTP will reply, “Well, if I’m bad, I’ll be the *best* at being bad!!”  In practice, the ENTP has three choices, much akin to their ESTP… brethren (? cousins, aunts, uncles?).

The first choice an ENTP has is to willfully rebel against other people, turning their cynicism over others’ unreasonability into an enmity of their own, resulting in disobeying rules and belittling others in order to justify their own wounded emotions and ego rather than out of any thought-out reason for doing so.  An ENTP choosing this spiteful path quickly loses their charm, only “beloved” by those trying to justify themselves in the same emotional areas.  Also, an ENTP who feels the need to lick their own wounds in this way is really requiring affirmation from the very people they hate, and ends up feeling even less confident, validated or good, the more that they fight.  This is the kind of mush-mouthed insecurity that ENTP’s roll their eyes at in other people.  Though they might be appalled to recognize they are taking that same kind of wimpy tack, sometimes wallowing is too comforting to give up without kicking and screaming.

Alternatively, it’s quite tempting for an ENTP to just fit in, label themselves bad before anyone else can, and spend the rest of their lives paying penance for everything they like, are and enjoy.  They may or may not be good at looking normal, but it’s likely they won’t be.  Whatever an ENTP might try, there will always be that desire to be just a little more flashy, have just a little more fun with the things that they love.  ENTP’s who suppress their desire to explore the world and to understand anything and everything it has to offer, may feel like it’s the right thing to try and please everyone, but, you see (and this was a recent eye-opener to me, believe me) the ENTP cannot care *about* others, as long as they care *what others think* of them.

Be it through cultural, family or peer pressure, if an ENTP is constantly trying to prove who they are, they won’t *be* it; end of story.  An ENTP that is worried about others’ opinions, even for good intentions, will be too afraid to let down the shield that protects their hidden vulnerable feelings.  If they need validation of who they are from others, they won’t feel free to be the royal-rainbow they truly are and will constantly be resenting others for not seeing them well enough, causing them to be cynical and close people out more.

But as they own themselves, even when others don’t appreciate their larger-than-life childlike bombasticism (Is bombasticism a word?  It is now!), then they are able to truly care about what is going on with others and help them shine in their own unique way.  When they choose to explore the world with all the spontaneity and confidence they already possess and yet feel guilty of, an ENTP can become a lighthouse of color, blasting out joy and self-assurance to everyone around them, unafraid of those who refuse to see the bright light they are.  As the very ENTP Tony Stark (Iron Man), puts it in The Avengers, “You’re tiptoeing, big guy.  You’ve gotta strut.”  This is the ENTP Swashbuckler.

The league of ENTP Swashbucklers is a who’s-who of charming and well-intentioned con-artists, thieves, smugglers, troublemakers, trolls, and seriously big hams.  How can all those things go with well-intentioned?  When a Swashbuckler breaks rules right and left, why do we still find them charming?  ENTP’s are cheaters whose out-of the-box thinking is based on whatever will reach their end goal; they excel at applying and adapting the tools in their observed arsenal to whatever new and unusual situation they might come up against.  Why can the Swashbuckler work outside the rules and establishment and yet still be so obviously good-hearted when other types doing the same action might come off creepy and self-justifying?  Because, in line with their greatest strength of character judgement, the Swashbuckler is excellent at seeing, understanding, and changing their own intentions.

Even if society shuns them or makes them feel like a bad person, deep down a Swashbuckler knows their intentions are good, that they are worthwhile, even if no one else can see it.  This helps instill in them a confidence that can’t be taken away, an intrinsic sort of thing that’s needed when others look down on them for not coloring in the lines.

All EP’s get told from birth by society that actions are a moral thing; make the wrong choice and you’re a bad person.  EP’s who naturally suck at choosing what action to take based on their intentions, often make choices that don’t reflect who they are at all and though they’ll probably notice quickly that it was the wrong choice and hopefully learn from their mistake, the guilt they’re given means the lesson their likely to learn is “you didn’t do it right; that makes you bad.”

In addition, ENTP’s have to work hard to be good at physical action, especially when they think too hard about specifics, rather than *being* what they want to look like.  A plan of action may make complete sense in an ENTP’s head, but when carried out, physics and their own bodies just aren’t on their side.  (Cue memories of trying to ride down the stairs in a laundry basket because I “thought it’d be cute.”  For the record, it was… it just hurt more than I anticipated.)  Like ENTP Socrates talking about the philosopher falling in the well, when an ENTP gets thinking about something, physical awareness may go out the window.  Thankfully, the Swashbuckler learns quickly to adapt to the mistakes they’re sure to make and can almost always fix a ploy gone awry.

ENTP’s are obsessed with understanding people and the way they tick, starting with themselves.  They intuitively feel and understand just how gorgeously complex and multifaceted people are and (whether they realize it or not) spend their entire lives trying to enjoy that complexity.  This is done in various ways, the most notable of which is poking it with a stick.  And by that I mean trying to shock and awe it out of its safe little cocoon by making it feel uncomfortable so that it does stuff.  Why do ENTP’s (ETP’s in their different ways) like to say things that are shocking?  What’s one reason (of several) for ENTP’s huge enjoyment of their own sex-appeal?  Well, in addition to enjoying their own complicated selves, which they are very keen on doing, ENTP’s love to make others squirm in order to observe and enjoy them.  People are funny, have so much more going on than they’re aware of and often take themselves much more seriously than they should.  ENTP’s love to poke at those kinds of insecurities to see what comes crawling out from under the rocks.  This isn’t malicious, it’s merely an attempt to understand, enjoy and utilize people to their fullest.

The Swashbuckler doesn’t do things halfway; they either don’t do something at all, or they make an ENTP-shaped hole in the wall.  This means that individuals often either love them or hate them, and either camp is likely to find them strange.  There is a wide range of “cool” versus “awkward” with an ENTP, both of which might demonstrate in the same person depending on the audience.  (Why, yes, I fall into both categories.  I’ve gotten fairly used to having very little filter system between my brain and my mouth.  Now I know how to own it.)  Though even a beloved Swashbuckler is likely to wish more people truly *knew* them.

In a group, though an ENTP has decent vision and can lead in a pinch, they’d much rather just be in charge of their own actions.  Naturally skeptical and needing to be won over, they’re unlikely to follow someone in a plan or mission if they don’t see the merit of the pursuit or the leader hasn’t won their respect as a source.  But when someone with vision, like a healthy IJ, earns their trust, they’re happy to concede the big-picture reins so that they can be free to focus on the parts they love; loophole exploiting, verbal sparring and self-aggrandizing… for the good of everyone, of course.

Though Swashbucklers that exemplify what it means to be a “lovable rogue” (seriously, most the examples on that page are ENTP’s) are more common than rule-abiding ones, an ENTP only becomes a Dark Swashbuckler when they have bad motivations and don’t care.  Villainous ENTP’s may be just as charming, adaptive, personable and witty, but just like bad actions shouldn’t define a good ENTP, good actions can’t define one with bad intent.  Dark Swashbucklers don’t care what kind of person they are in reality anymore, so long as they achieve their goals toward *looking* great on the outside.

The constant struggle with worrying that they’re bad may make a well-meaning ENTP worry that the path to Hell is paved with good intentions.  But if a Swashbuckler constantly returns to the *why* behind their actions, they can realize that the path to true heroism (and awesomeness) lies in who you are deep down and that if an EP focuses on who they really want to *be,* they’ll figure the action stuff out eventually.

As Swashbuckler Miss Frizzle says, “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.”  It’s the only way ENTP’s can really explore the world, people and themselves.

Swashbuckler or Dark Swashbuckler, a strong ENTP is likely to go big or go home and will do whatever it takes to reach their dreams of greatness.

Examples:
Male:  Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly
Female:  Disney’s Mulan
Villain:  Dark Helmet, Space Balls

Who are the Type Heroes?  Read the intro here, and stay tuned to meet them all!

Want more information on ENTP, the Swashbuckler?  Read their Cognitive Orientation Guidebook here.

The post Type Heroes: ENTP – The Swashbuckler appeared first on A Little Bit of Personality.

All the typings and observations in this post are based on definitions and information presented in the aLBoP Guided Tour So if any of it bugs you, please go read that before leaving me a grumpy comment… Or, you know what?  Let’s just skip the grumpy comments!  Have a nice day! <3

ISTP
The Weapons Specialist

[Calmly tied up in a chair being interrogated by Russians, getting a call offering an extraction]
“Are you kidding?   I’m working.”
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, The Avengers

The ISTP Weapons Specialist is the master of… mastery; the specialist of specialism.  They excel at falling in love with something and immersing themselves totally and completely in it, using their bodies and minds together as a precision instrument at whatever speaks to them.  Their body is their world-discovering device and nothing will get between them and that adventure.

Young ISTPs explore from birth with lots of touching, running, biting and questions of “What will happen if I do this?” to help them discover the enormous, thrilling world around them.  They’re likely to be curious and excited about seemingly menial things that pique their interest and some details may be extremely important to them, while details that types around them feel are important aren’t such a big deal.  As they grow older, their specialized excitement and journey-enjoying adventure seeking may wear on the patience of adults who want them to aim their talents at more “serious” pursuits.  Also, young ISTPs, who at first may have been chattery, goofy and even boisterous in childhood, may be treated by other children like the things they like and care about are uncool or unimportant, driving a young ISTP who would rather be alone in their discovery than lose it, to be more quiet, withdrawn and snarky in their humor.  In their pursuit of experiencing the world, those experiences become their friends when they feel they have none.  This gives the ISTP three options.

The first is to give in to their cynicism of the world and cling to themselves as the smartest SOB on two legs.  At times, the ISTP will feel like they’re the only one who really understands what’s going on in the world.  They’re great at applying their past experiences to their current ones and seeing what others miss; things that to them seem obvious.  Plus their natural ease at drawing character judgments from the things they’ve seen is likely to give them jade-colored glasses.  It’s easy for an ISTP to go the way of Dr. House and take a sort of sadistic joy in rolling their eyes at humanity.  Even if it’s not to that degree, it’s easy for an ISTP to become self-righteous about their cynical point of view and not even want solutions to the stupidity they see around them, finding safety in the idea that the reason they don’t have friends isn’t their fault, it’s just because everyone’s a moron… which as an ENTP, I have to admit, is truer than I’m happy about.  But an ISTP who takes this course ends up not only further estranged from others (which is what they tell themselves they want), but both hating themselves and losing any joy they had in exploration, both of which were what they were fighting for in the first place.  The entire world is left meaningless to them, not exactly in an ennui way (don’t worry; art film INTPs, you’ll have your turn), but more in a “bite me” sort of way.  Appreciation of the world and the way they used to touch it, feel it and taste it, is just gone and they’re left a shallow, hateful shell.

Just because an ISTP doesn’t feel like part of the group doesn’t mean they don’t desperately long to be.  When they’re willing to give up the breathtaking and thrilling things they’ve found in their adventures because they’d rather have friends than be themselves, the ISTP takes choice number two.  ISTPs are terribly charming, when they want to be, and when they settle for the life they’re “supposed” to want instead of the life of calculated risk-taking and discovery at which they so excel, they can appear like that’s what they wanted all along.  But these ISTPs end up regretting giving up what turned out to be not only opportunities for experiencing the world, leaving them clinging desperately to memories of experiences they once had, but also end up feeling like they gave up the very essence of who they were.

Finally, though it may be the hardest thing they’ve ever done, an ISTP can defy both their cynicism and the way they feel others expect them to be and choose to find joy in the world again.  They can choose to hope that others will see them and appreciate their skills and gifts if they’re just them, even if “them” isn’t a popular notion.  ISTPs who choose this third road end up excelling at whatever they pick to love.  Brilliant and dauntless, this is the ISTP Weapons Specialist.

The ISTP Weapons Specialist is often found in fiction as the dark and snarky hero who may cling to the social sidelines until their sure-to-be-impressive skills have a chance to be spotlighted.  Or they may be the dry-humored, skeptic team member, ready to tell the others when their plan is bone-shatteringly stupid or the aloof bounty-hunter or expert at a rare and ancient art that you call when no one else will do.  They’re excellently cast as the relatable bad-a and when writers need a kick-butt girl, the Weapons Specialist is one of the most common choices (along with ENTJ, interestingly enough) because they’re able to be hard-core, while still having a hidden quirky, soft side.  Their Introverted Perception combined with their Sensing makes them masters of the moment, the details of what’s going on right in front of them which they’re able to make use of in a laid-out Thinking way.  But, like all TPs, they have an unconventional eccentricity to the way they do things and a love of flying in their own direction.  The Weapons Specialist is happy to stay out of your way, provided you stay out of theirs.

Like all IPs, ISTPs may fear being second-rate.  IPs introversion and solo world-exploration may make them feel out of touch with others, not “cool” enough etc., and their perception rather than judging may make them feel like they’re not pushing forward and having the effect they’d like to in the world.  ISTPs especially, in their concrete, ST way, may feel the need to defend how experienced they are.  Since their natural specializing means they favor depth over breadth of topics, they can’t possibly be experienced in every area; there just isn’t enough time or energy (or enough giving-a-crap).  The Weapons Specialist shouldn’t hold themselves to the same standard of competence in other areas as they do in their sphere of interest and they can end up demeaning their own amazing know-how as well as others’ talents and skills, if they do.

The Weapons Specialist likes to do their own thing, have their own interests and explore them in their own way.  They like to go on their own adventures and they can usually take-or-leave anyone coming with them on that adventure.  Whether alone or in a group, they’re going to do the exact same thing, in the exact same method.  As long as you don’t get between them and the adventure, they’re cool with you.  Of course ISTPs can still form deep attachments; in fact, because of their loner quality, the Weapons Specialist will usually take their close relationships *very* seriously, whether or not they want to show it.  A Weapons Specialist who struggles with sharing their emotions with their friends or loved ones may even grow colder to the person they care about, afraid of acting “stupid and emotional” (which they tend to have a *very* low tolerance of, in themselves especially) or opening up and getting hurt.  But the Weapons Specialist is sure to be an essential and treasured member of a group who comes to know them for who they really are and appreciates their tireless resolve and unexpected wry humor.

Dark Weapons Specialists are misunderstood creatures who grew cynical as the world betrayed them.  Though those characteristics are common in a lot of non-evil ISTPs, a Weapons Specialist goes Dark when they choose to disregard their specific experiences and what they know through those experiences in favor of gratifying their own feelings of hurt.  They were screwed by the world so they want to screw it right back.  For a wronged Weapons Specialist, there is a conscious choice of either choosing to fight injustice for the good of everyone, or choosing to fight everyone for the safety of themselves.  But even a Dark Weapons Specialist who is harboring sinister intentions will be excellent at what they do; harming their foes with a thin-bladed finesse in whatever manner they choose to specialize.

Weapons Specialist or Dark Weapons Specialist, a strong ISTP is sure to excel at whatever they choose to care about in a powerful, persistent, utterly determined way.

Examples:
Male:  Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride
Female:  Princess Merida, Pixar’s Brave
Villain:  Gollum, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Who are the Type Heroes?  Read the intro here, and stay tuned to meet them all!

Want more information on ISTP, the Weapons Specialist?  Read their Cognitive Orientation Guidebook here.

The post Type Heroes: ISTP – The Weapons Specialist appeared first on A Little Bit of Personality.

All the typings and observations in this post are based on definitions and information presented in the aLBoP Guided Tour So if any of it bugs you, please go read that before leaving me a grumpy comment… Or, you know what?  Let’s just skip the grumpy comments!  Have a nice day! <3

ENFJ
The Veteran

“It is important to draw wisdom from different places. If you take it from only one place it becomes rigid and stale.”
Uncle Iroh, Avatar: The Last Airbender
(the TV show *not* the movie :P)

The ENFJ Veteran is the master of experience.  They have a timeless quality that both looks to the past and the overarching meaning of what people have done and what events have transpired, but lives and acts in the moment.  They have a rich, sage-like understanding of history and the actions and interactions of others, with a contrasting childlike exuberance for living and experiencing the world around them with people they love.  Little Veterans often parent their peers, while Veteran adults often treat their children or students like trusted and respected peers.  They live for their connections with people, and the joy of seeing another achieve real happiness or the pain over another’s loss is indistinguishable to them from the joy or pain over their own travails.

Young ENFJ’s are obedient little things who desire nothing as much as connecting with and pleasing those they love.  ENFJ’s have deep, rich emotions; emotions that inform them just how important people and principles are.  Rather than teach them how to harness emotion and use it instead of letting it use them, a culture threatened by the power and potency of ENFJ emotions usually trains the little ENFJ to push down and reject emotion (which they aren’t good at doing) and instead turn to reasoning through specific data what action to take.  Since this is the ENFJ’s weakest point, this usually does not go well and leaves the ENFJ disarmed from using their greatest strength—knowing intrinsically which action to take.  The ENFJ ends up looking and feeling stupid; which they absolutely are not.

Being raised to not trust their true judgment is often what leaves an ENFJ vulnerable when their hardest choice comes around.  When two parties in the ENFJ’s life are at odds with the ENFJ trapped in the middle, which side will they pick?  To this question, the ENFJ would prefer to say “neither” as long as humanly possible.  They love both of their friends or groups of friends; why would they want to choose between them, just because they disagree with each other?  But as time goes on, it may be obvious to the ENFJ that the problem isn’t going away and action is being made which makes the ENFJ’s reaction imperative.  The truth is, the ENFJ knows which action they should take; that’s an EJ’s strongest suite (especially an ENFJ who understands the full depth and complexity of the meaning behind actions)… but that doesn’t mean they *want* to take that action.  Even a young ENFJ understands the way consequences work all too well and has already seen that people don’t like being friends with people who stand up to them.  The closer the ENFJ is to the party they know is in the wrong, the harder the choice will be.  Shall the ENFJ, who desires nothing more than they desire individual connections and making their friends happy, stand up for what they know from their experience-drawn principles to be right and have a chance of losing the very connections that make life meaningful in the first place?

But, as all EJ’s weakest point is realizing when they’re missing information, an ENFJ may fail to take into account everything that will happen if they choose their friend instead of what they know is right.  Just because an EJ knows there will be consequences, doesn’t mean they know *what* those consequences will be.  When an ENFJ chooses not to perform the action they know they should (whether they’re just trying to put it off, or choosing another action entirely), two things happen.

Firstly, as much as they tell themselves they’re not choosing sides, EJ’s are *always* acting.  A choice of “inaction” is really just a choice of action against the party the ENFJ knows they should stand up for.  They quickly make themselves guilty of the same affront of those they know are in the wrong and are likely to end up loosing the friend they knew was in the right in the first place.

Secondly, it will end up hurting the friend that was in the wrong.  As an ENFJ knows, correct action leads to desired results.  When the ENFJ chooses to support their friend in action that is against the principles they know to be right, the friend *can’t* get desired results.  It will only hurt both the ENFJ and their friends for the ENFJ to be supportive of *actions* they know will hurt those important to them, although they should truly show their love and support for the person themselves, even if that means being stern or angry with them for their actions.

ENFJ’s that choose friends *over* what they know to be right, end up feeling empty, guilty and unlikable and usually give themselves unforeseen consequences that limit future choices and action.  But an ENFJ who stands up for their friends, even when it means standing up *to* their friends, becomes a refuge in the storm, a place of wisdom and comfort to remind the other types that they can choose today who they want to be tomorrow.  This is the ENFJ Veteran.

The ENFJ Veteran turns up frequently in children’s stories where they often play, as their title implies, the old, kind mentor who can see the best in their students, a best friend or constant companion of the protagonist, or the hero themselves, with a story theme of not judging a book by its cover.  Veteran Disney princesses are common because their kind and giving nature is a good example to little girls about how to be nice and care about others.

Which isn’t to say that a healthy Veteran is always nice.  They are team-players who will grow fierce in the defence of their friends or causes that they truly believe in.  The Veteran may or may not stick up for themselves, but if you attack their friends, prepare for a younger Veteran to get in your face while an older one may be disappointed in you and shake their head.  Their disapproval alone may be enough to work wonders; a Veteran’s approval is powerful and only revoked if they see their friend hurting others.  The other types are sure to feel guilty and wish to please the Veteran, though whether or not they change their actions as the Veteran wishes may depend on any number of factors.

The difference between a “sage old kook” that is ENFJ and one that’s INFJ is that the INFJ is likely to be faking and in complete control of their kookiness, whereas the ENFJ is likely just being themselves and has simply learned that genuinely enjoying goofy and simple pleasures helps them understand and appreciate the meaning in the world.  The INFJ may know this as well, but is unlikely to “let their hair down” around their students, guarding a piece of themselves so their goal can never be lost.  The healthy Veteran puts their heart on the line, leading by letting others connect with them.  Their unspoken mantra with their students is, “You can do this, I believe in you.”

Their EJ makes them action-collaborators, loving to work together with others to make things happen, while their NF means they care profoundly about the deeper significance, in their case, of especially history, events and people’s interactions.  Their EF… um, some of these combos are weird abbreviated… Extraversion plus Feeling, I mean, means their hope and optimism, which they have naturally, tends to lie in the actions of individuals and the times that they do grow cynical, it tends to be about the world or groups as a whole.

Like all EJ’s, since the Veteran has trouble knowing when they’re missing information, they have a tendency to plow forward with a plan of action, unaware of some little detail that may turn the whole course on its head.  ENFJ’s in particular may have trouble gathering specific data they need and should instead turn to principles drawn from history, which is their greatest strength.

The Veteran may become the mother or the father of their beloved group, no matter their relative age, and the other types love to rely on their Veteran as a place of hope when they’ve been through the gauntlet.  When they remember their end goal, the ENFJ is fantastic at rallying the others, getting them on their feet and toward the sanctuary of their task’s end.  If they get side-tracked, usually because they see someone along their road who they have a hard time saying “No” to helping, sometimes the others will have to get them back to their own feet.  But usually, the most meaningful mission will prevail and the Veteran will see their friends through to the end of whatever quest life’s taken them on.

Dark Veterans are not extremely common in fiction, as far as truly evil ones go.  Usually a Veteran who is undeveloped or in the wrong will simply come from the desire to stand up for the people or causes they care about.  This can turn truly evil though, when the Dark Veteran cares more about what they want for their team, friend or self to the point that they don’t care, or even purposefully hurt someone else.  A Dark Veteran will likely validate themselves by implying they were doing a seemingly harmless action, trying to ignore their own intentions entirely, implying that “there will be no comeuppance!” and that consequences can merely be side-stepped.  They also may try to use reasoning through falsified data they don’t really understand to support their own side.  When evil, the Dark Veteran is one of the scariest types, imho.  The gentle, nurturing of a Veteran parental figure, even if not blood related to the protagonist, is terrifying in its manipulative potential.  But most ENFJ’s are full of light, with good hearts who just care about others.  Though, they can feel free to remind themselves it’s okay to stand up for yourself once in a while and it’s worth it to stand up to your friends when you know in your heart they’re wrong.

Veteran or Dark Veteran, a strong ENFJ is sure to have a powerful connection with others and a complex understanding of the meaning behind history and events that they use to govern their own meaningful actions.

Examples:
Male:  Faramir, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Female:  Pepper Potts, Iron Man
Villain:  The Wicked Stepmother, Disney’s Cinderella

Who are the Type Heroes?  Read the intro here, and stay tuned to meet them all!

Want more information on ENFJ, the Veteran?  Read their Cognitive Orientation Guidebook here.

The post Type Heroes: ENFJ – The Veteran appeared first on A Little Bit of Personality.

All the typings and observations in this post are based on definitions and information presented in the aLBoP Guided Tour So if any of it bugs you, please go read that before leaving me a grumpy comment… Or, you know what?  Let’s just skip the grumpy comments!  Have a nice day! <3

ESTP
The Spartan

“Time for some thrilling heroics.”
Jayne Cobb, Firefly

The ESTP Spartan is a champion of individualism and loyal to the core if you’ve won their favor, which is based on your respect and acceptance of them.  The Spartan loves themselves… as well they should.  They’re funny, charming and observant with an unperturbed hunger for life and adventure.  They also love other people and champion others’ individuality as much as their own… almost  Where ISTPs love to use their selves to experience the world; ESTPs love to use the world and others to experience the exciting thing that is their *self!*

But from a young age the combination of loving to experience life, being and planning in the moment and the desire to keep the parts of themselves they love, makes the ESTP easy to call dumb and shallow.  Young ESTPs are often not fond of sitting for long periods of time, abstract concepts or being asked to change… all of which are huge factors in the Western school system as well as most places of religion.  The ESTP isn’t shallow, nor are they stupid; instead they care deeply about people and groups who they feel can see the best parts of them and do not want those parts to change.  As the ESTP goes through life, they have three options.

The first option, which in our society is taken more often by female ESTPs, is to change and become a part of the sea of mundanity they see around them.  ESTPs who choose this path can be quite good at being unassuming, normal, non-threatening and just charming enough to make friends… but the ESTP who rejects their true self soon discovers the excitement, adventure and self-confidence they could have had is slipping away from them, leaving them feeling unsatisfied and lonely as no one sees them for who only they know they truly are.

The second option, which in our culture is taken more often by male ESTPs, is for the ESTP to resent those asking them to change and therefore insist that *every* part of them is good, even the parts they themselves don’t like.  A resentful ESTP ends up bitter against people (who as EPs they naturally love observing and interacting with) and in a constant struggle to prove their self worth, even defending their mistakes as “just the way life works” or “just the way they are.”  This ESTP will end up hating themselves and feeling like everything they saw and loved in themselves maybe wasn’t so great after all.

The ESTPs final option is to reject others’ poor images of them, embrace fully how much they love themselves and try to become the best version of all their favorite parts.  An ESTP who has taken this final path becomes even *more* themselves because the ESTP has been honed into just what they wanted to be all along.  For lack of better words… a creature of pure awesome!  This is the ESTP Spartan.

The Spartan is one of my favorite types to write and watch in fiction.  The confidence, vivacity and intense passion for life that Spartans exude is contagious.  They can certainly be protagonists, but are often cast as side-characters because their memorable personalities and sensible wise-cracking can lighten a heavy epic’s mood.  Often authors (myself included) will create an ESTP character as comic relief, only to discover their usually unnoticed inner world demands to be written and our little ESTPs overcome feelings of being unwanted, second-rate and struggling with the difference between growing up and becoming someone else.  The Spartan will tell their own story… they will not be quieted.

EPs are people explorers, obsessed with people, their motivations and how they act and interact.  With a T “bite” to their humor and an SP ability to notice what’s going on right in front of them with intense perception, Spartan humor is most incisive in its literalness.  Get an ESTP Spartan and an ENTP Swashbuckler together in a room and their banter is likely to jump from literal to abstract and then back again, each flipping their observation of the other on its head.

Like all EPs, the Spartan will have the most difficulty knowing the right action to take based on their good intentions and observed data.  ESTPs in particular will be quite comfortable with their physical action, but have a more difficult time understanding the abstract, long-term effects their actions will cause.

The Spartan is usually happy not to lead the pack.  They despise being told what to do unless they deeply respect their leader (as masters of understanding intentions, they hate not doing things of their own free will and choice) and would rather not be responsible for others’ actions (their own actions are hard enough to decide on).  If pushed into leading, usually by a circumstance calling their loyalty into action, the Spartan will usually say, “Hey I’m going to be out in the front doing this, follow me if you dare.  It’s your life.”

A Spartan is turned to evil not when they make a wrong action; EPs are notorious for mistakes that end in “Oops!”  But a Spartan goes from mistaken to villainous when they don’t care anymore what their intentions are and take action based on self-centered motives that ignore others’ good intentions in favor of their own, which they know intrinsically are wrong.  This could last for five seconds or a person could choose to be a Dark Spartan the rest of their existence, it all depends on how much the ESTP lies to themselves about their own intentions.  But a Spartan who is honest at heart should, with practice, revelling in the good parts of themselves and rejecting the unhealthy, have all the tools they need to choose the action that will best help them be happy.

And in fact, the Spartan’s self-confidence is not a villainous trait, as so often the culture tells them it is.  Enmity is a Dark Spartan’s weapon that, although it may not look like it at first glance, is in direct conflict with a Spartan’s self-confidence.  Confident Spartans don’t feel the need to pit themselves against others or ignore the intentions of others because they don’t feel the need to prove their own self-worth.  The more truly self-pleased a Spartan is, the more they’ll be able to enjoy others for who they are as well.

Spartan or Dark Spartan, a strong ESTP is sure to determined, individualist and memorable.

Examples:
Male:  Captain James T. Kirk, Star Trek
Female:  Rainbow Dash, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Villain:  Gaston, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Who are the Type Heroes?  Read the intro here, and stay tuned to meet them all!

Want more information on ESTP, the Spartan?  Read their Cognitive Orientation Guidebook here.

The post Type Heroes: ESTP – The Spartan appeared first on A Little Bit of Personality.